Pieces of Me
by CharlieSinclaire
Summary: This story is about friendship, growth and how what one really seeks might have just been under their noses the whole time. It's a cliché love story about two friends who grew up together and didn't even notice they were falling until it was too late. Shino/OC Full Summary Inside Mostly AU Rated T for now
1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note: First things first, this is my first attempt at writing any sort of Naruto fanfiction, although I do read it often. This storyline has been nagging at me for some time and I finally decided that I needed to write it. One of the main inspirations for this fic is simply that I do not believe there are enough Shino stories out there. Now onto a few disclaimers before we begin:**

**Anything you may recognize (plot, characters, etc.) is not owned by me. Anything you do not recognize is owned by me.**

**This story will be slightly AU, slightly not. I plan on bringing my own characterizations to the characters already given to us in Naruto. I also plan on inserting my own OC. Sometimes the plot will follow the series (mostly because I believe that there are certain events that just can't be ignored), however most of the time it will not.**

**Summary: This story is about friendship, growth and how what one really seeks might have just been under their noses the whole time. It's a cliché love story about two friends who grew up together and didn't even notice they were falling until it was too late. This is a story about trust, forgiveness, jealousy and all of those other crazy emotions that make up a horribly cliché love story. It's about triumph and overcoming ones fears to be there for the ones they love. A story where heartbreak and loss remind them of what's truly important in life and reminds them to never let that go. This is the story of Aburame Shino and Kimura Yoko. **

Kimura Yoko stood outside the entrance to the academy gazing up at it in wonder. Her violet color eyes had widened and were now staring at the building intently as if waiting for it all just to disappear right in front of her. Yoko shook her head and closed her mouth which had been threatening to touch the ground at any moment, trying to calm herself down. She finally shook her head and decided that now was not the time to become nervous. After all, she had been waiting for this moment for her _entire_ life.

Smiling, she thought about how insignificant her life (all six terribly long years of it) had been compared to this moment when her life would change forever. Today she started at the academy, today she took the first step to becoming a leaf shinobi, today…would be the first day she was late to class. As she stood there steeling herself to enter the building she heard the sound of a bell signaling the day had begun.

Double checking to make sure her violet hair was still securely tied in a messy bun, Yoko bolted into the school. She was determined to impress her teacher with her awesome speed even though she was late to class.

It had to count for something right?

However, just as Yoko reached for the doorknob of her classroom, she felt herself step on her untied shoelace and before she knew it she was flying through the doorway. Landing with an ungraceful *thud* Yoko looked up to see someone leaning over her.

The room suddenly burst into laughter and Yoko let out a small grunt of annoyance as she picked herself up from the floor and dusted herself off. This was _so_ not the way she envisioned her first day at the academy. The man who had been leaning over her cleared his throat and said,

"My name is Iruka and you must be Yoko. Please take a seat we were just about to get started with the introduction to the academy." Yoko nodded her head and turned around to try and spot an empty seat.

In the back of the room sat a young boy at a table all by himself. He was wearing his clan's signature sunglasses and extremely high necked jacket that covered most of his face. His name was Aburame Shino and he was not in the least bit surprised that his classmates had given him a wide berth. He had known for a long time that he and his clan were different and that was saying something in the land of the shinobi. He had noticed from a young age how his family tended to keep to themselves and avoided those in the village as much as possible. Therefore, it had not surprised him when his father sat him down the night before to talk to him about his first day at the academy.

_Aburame Shibi was, to the outside world, a stern and very stoic man. He completed his missions in a true shinobi fashion and never let his emotions get the best of him. At home, however, he was quite a different man. Away from the prying eyes of the village and surrounded by his clan, Shibi was very light-hearted and cared very deeply for his family. This is why on this warm summer night, Shibi had sat down with his son to speak to him about his first day at the Academy._

"_Son, you might be wondering why I called you to speak with me tonight. Have you ever noticed how we of the Aburame clan tend to keep to ourselves away from the village and those who live there?" Shino nodded, prompting Shibi to continue with a heavy tone,_

"_The reason we do this son, is that most people who live in the village do not understand us and people tend to fear what they do not understand. Most people do not appreciate or like how closely we work with insects and therefore do not wish to be in our company. So, we of the Aburame clan do not push our presence on them more than is needed. However, you will be starting at the Academy tomorrow and I want you to be prepared for what their reactions might be."_

_Shino looked up at his father and noticed the worry and apprehension that had appeared in the older man's eyes. Shino reached over and gave his father a hug,_

"_Do not worry father. I am an Aburame and nothing they say could bother me. Why? Because you raised me to be stronger than that. I will be alright, I promise." Shibi looked at his son with a small smile,_

"_I know you will be son, but just know that if you ever need to talk, the rest of the clan and I are always here."_

Shibi had been right, of course. The moment Shino had stepped into the academy the halls were filled with whispers of "bug-freak" and "creep". Shino held his head high and proceeded to his classroom as if he could not hear what they were saying. He remembered what his father had said about not pushing his presence on them if they did not desire it, and had taken a seat in the back of the class.

Part of Shino had hoped that someone, _anyone_ would come and sit next to him, just to prove his father wrong. In the end, however, everyone had chosen all of the other seats in the room, purposefully avoiding him.

He was broken out of his thoughts by a rather large *thud* at the front of the classroom. He looked up from the desk to see a young girl with purple hair sprawled out on the floor at the front of the classroom. He heard the rest of the class break out into laughter, but he stayed silent already knowing what it was like to be the butt of everyone's jokes. Iruka-sensei introduced himself and then told the girl he called Yoko to take a seat. He watched as she scanned the classroom and then hesitated before making her way up to the only unoccupied seat at his table.

He sighed knowing she only picked the seat because she had no other choice and turned away from her as she sat down, so that she did not feel bothered by his presence.

Yoko finally settled into her seat in the back of the room and glanced curiously over at the boy sharing the table with her. As soon as she had sat down he had turned away from her, completely ignoring her presence. She sighed and took out her notebook as Iruka-sensei began that day's lesson. As time dragged on Yoko found it more and more difficult to concentrate on her lesson as she began to wonder about the boy sitting next to her. Staring at him intensely, Yoko balled up her fists in determination and decided that at break she would introduce herself whether he liked it or not.

Besides, everyone needed a friend right?

Finally Iruka-sensei signaled that it was time for break and Yoko reached under her table to grab her lunch pail. As she straightened up she turned to speak with the mysterious boy who had sat next to her all morning, but realized that he had already left and was making his way out of the classroom. As he left she heard people began to whisper after him. She heard "freak" and "creep" as he hurriedly tried to exit the room, not making eye contact with anyone.

Yoko quickly leapt from her table and followed him out of the classroom and onto the playground where she found him seated on the wall, unpacking his lunch. She stood nervously watching him, trying to work up the nerve to fulfill the promise she had made to herself earlier. What if he didn't want to talk to her? What if he didn't like her at all? Taking a deep breath, Yoko tightened her grip on her lunch pail and forcefully made her way over to the mysterious boy, sitting right down next to him as if it were nothing out of the ordinary.

Shino began unpacking his lunch, trying to pretend that he _didn't_ notice the girl with the purple hair staring at him from across the playground. He also pretended not to notice as she began making her way over to him as fast as her small legs could carry her.

Again, he tried to act like he didn't take any notice to her sitting down next to him and opening her lunch as if this was an everyday occurrence, as if he _wasn't_ a freak, as if she _wasn't _bothered by him. A full two minutes passed in silence, although it felt like an eternity to Shino, before he turned to her and said,

"Who put you up to this?" The girl turned and looked at him, confusion written all across her face,

"What do you mean? No one put me up to anything." Shino finally lost it and blurted out,

"Quit lying to me! I bet you are just like everyone else, calling me names behind my back, scared and disgusted by my clan! So who put you up to this? Did they want to see how close they could get to the freak without it rubbing off on them? Tell me!" Her eyes widened in fear at his outburst and she said softly,

"I really don't know what you are talking about. I wanted to introduce myself after I sat down today, but you turned away. I heard all of the other kids calling you names, but I don't know why. My parents aren't ninja, I don't know very much about clans. I'm sorry, please stop being mean to me!" As she talked her voice had gotten higher and higher until Shino noticed that she was in fact crying, at which point he looked around to see if anyone had noticed,

"Shhhhhhh! I'm sorry I made you cry, but please stop. I'll talk to you, but you can't let everyone else see I made you cry, I'll never live it down. Pleeeeeease!"

Shino heard her take a couple of deep, shaky breaths and then watched as she wiped her eyes on her sleeve. She sat there quietly for a moment and then turned to him,

"I'm Kimura Yoko, first generation shinobi. Who are you?" Shino turned to look at her and sighed,

"I'm Aburame Shino from a very long and boring line of shinobi." Yoko giggled, although Shino could not figure out why, and then she replied,

"You are funny Shino, and that must be so cool having all of those shinobi in your family! My family is boring, we own a clothing shop in the civilian district. My mom makes all the clothes and my dad runs the store. Neither of them really wanted me to come here, they said it was too dangerous, which is so unfair…" Shino continued to eat his food as Yoko rambled on about her family.

As she talked he studied this very odd and hyperactive girl. Obviously, the only reason she was talking to him was because she knew nothing about his clan and their affinity for insects. Shino then decided that he would not let himself get too close to this girl because as soon as she found out she would run away just like everyone else and this didn't bother him at all. Or at least that is what he told himself as he realized she was finishing up her long winded speech,

"…and my favorite color is green. Most would think its purple because of my hair, but it's not. So Shino tell me about yourself. It must so cool growing up around shinobi and besides I still don't see why nobody else wants to talk to you."

Fortunately, Shino was saved from a response by Iruka-sensei telling them that it was time for them to begin learning how to throw kunai.

Getting up and throwing away his food contained Shino followed the rest of the class into the training area, all the while trying to ignore the purple haired girl tagging along right next to him, never missing a step.

**Final Note: First I would like to thank you all for taking the time to read this story. Second I would like to thank my beta DiAnna44 for taking this story on and helping it become even better. Finally I would love to hear your thoughts on the story whether they be good or bad…all feedback is welcome. Thanks again!**


	2. Chapter 2

Whistling an unknown tune, Kimura Yoko made her way through the streets of the village, determined to be on time to the academy today. It had been three weeks since that fateful first day of ninja training and Yoko had developed quite the habit of being late. It wasn't like it was _her_ fault, though. Something just always managed to happen that would delay her trip the academy each morning. It wasn't _her_ fault that a beautiful butterfly crossed her path and tempted her into following it, or that she happened to come across the perfect climbing tree and just had to climb it.

Who knows if it would have been there when the academy let out?

Today, however, Yoko was determined to let nothing distract her…not even the cute little kitten sitting under the shade of a tree playing with a leaf.

Clenching her fists, Yoko forced her gaze forward determined not to lose focus. The kitten would not distract her by any means! She was a ninja, she was stronger than this…

…she was late to class _again_.

Letting out an annoyed huff, she went and took her seat at the back of the class after Iruka sensei had given her another lecture about how important being on time was. Letting her bag fall to the floor with a loud *thump*, she rested her head on her hand as Iruka sensei continued with the lesson where he had left off. The wonder and magic of the academy had worn off for Yoko after the second week of straight lectures about strategy and formations they had to endure.

Sure they had begun to learn how to throw kunai, but they hadn't seen any _real_ action yet and Yoko was becoming increasingly impatient. So instead she spent the time during the lectures studying the still mysterious boy next to her.

Over the past three weeks, although he seemed to tolerate her presence, Yoko had yet to learn anything about him.

All she had been able to determine is that none of her classmates seemed to want anything to do with him and this greatly confused her. So far she had seen nothing that would make him deserving of this kind of treatment, although she had come close to finding out the truth during her first week at the academy.

_Yoko was walking down the hall, being careful to remain in step with Shino, just as she did everyday on their way to their break. She realized the other day that he did not seem to want to acknowledge her presence, but since he had not told her to go away yet, she settled for following him around in silence._

_Lost in her own thoughts she did not see a group of students step out in front of her._

_Suddenly she came in contact with one of them and was sent flying to the floor. Landing ungracefully she looked up to see Ino, Shikamaru and Choji standing over her. She brushed herself off and stood up. She then proceeded to give them her meanest glare, the one she had been practicing for two days since she met Shino (just in case anyone wanted to mess with him), and clenched her fist,_

"_What's the big idea?" Shikamaru just rolled his eyes and said,_

"_It's rather bothersome really and I don't see how it's any of our business…" Choji cut him off,_

"_But Ino said it's our job to warn you." Yoko looked at the blonde haired girl in confusion,_

"_Warn me about what?" she asked. Ino laughed,_

"_Who you are hanging out with, silly! I figured you must not know why we all avoid him and I felt it was my job to warn you before his freakiness rubs off on you! You see the Aburame clan…"_

_Before she could finish, however, Shino pushed past the three of them and broke out into a run towards the break area. Making sure to shove Ino when she passed, Yoko chased after Shino and found him sitting at their spot on the wall, unpacking his lunch._

_Yoko went over and sat down next to him like nothing out of the ordinary had just happened and began eating her lunch in silence._

That day Yoko had decided that she would not push Shino to tell her anything. So at first their breaks were filled with silence as Yoko tried to figure out what to say. It finally became too much for her, however, and she decided that talking about anything was better than this. From then on their lunch breaks were spent with Yoko constantly chatting away about anything and everything she could think about. She figured if he wasn't going to talk, she would just have to talk enough for the both of them. Although he never made any signal to show that he even heard a word she had said over those past weeks, Yoko persisted.

He had to talk at some point, right?

Aburame Shino internally sighed as he tried once again to pay attention to what Iruka sensei was saying in today's lesson, but once again he was finding himself distracted. Like every other day he found himself staring intently at the front of the room, trying to ignore the girl next to him who was staring at him with unwavering attention.

It had been three weeks since his first day at the academy and while everyone else seemed determined to stay as far away from him as possible, Yoko seemed equally determined to get close to him. This vexed him greatly.

Although, he was sure that she did not yet know about _why_ everyone wanted nothing to do with him, he had figured that when she noticed she was becoming an outcast she would quickly ditch him. The opposite seem to happen, however. The more everyone else seemed to ostracize her as well, the more she seemed to dig her heels in.

What was wrong with this girl?

He had pondered this question over and over again as the weeks had passed and had only been able to come to one conclusion…she genuinely wanted to be his friend. Shino could not bring himself to let this happen, however, because he knew as soon as she found out the truth she would treat him just like everyone else.

_A freak_.

He was snapped out of his thoughts by everyone else rising from their seats. Not sure of what he missed, he followed suit and followed everyone else of the classroom and just like an unwanted shadow, Yoko fell into step right next to him, chatting away excitedly,

"I can't believe we are finally going to get to see some real action! I'm so excited that we are finally going to get to fight each other, this is going to be awesome…" Shino fell back into his own thoughts at this statement.

Iruka sensei had told them the first week that after they learned some basic theory, they were going to be put against each other to see what their strengths and weaknesses were.

Apparently, that time had come and Shino felt a knot form in the pit of his stomach. He would have no choice now but to use _them_...Yoko would finally see what everyone else had been talking about. He swallowed, trying to calm the acid in his stomach that had been threatening to make its way out and steeled himself for the inevitable.

They were taken into a training room and ushered off to one side. Iruka sensei stood in front of the class with a clipboard in his hand and glanced up over it,

"Alright. I will call out a pair of names and those two students are going fight each other. At this point in your training the most you should be able to do is draw some blood from your opponent, and if this happens or I deem the match has gone on long enough, you will stop fighting. Anyone who does not heed my call to stop will be serving detention with me for the next two weeks. Understood?"

Everyone nodded, "The first pair will be Uzumaki Naruto and Uchiha Sasuke."

The two walked to the center of the room and it was clear from the get go who the favorite was in this fight. Cheers erupted for Sasuke as the two faced each other and bowed. Sasuke smirked,

"My big brother Itachi has been helping me with my fighting skills, so I'll make sure to go easy on you so you don't get hurt." Naruto laughed,

"You're going down, believe it!" Iruka sensei then gave the signal and they were off.

Naruto flew straight at Sasuke, hand balled into a fist, obviously trying to make direct contact with his face. Sasuke easily, albeit a bit ungracefully, dodged the fist and brought his foot up to meet the side of Naruto's head. Naruto went flying and landed face down on the mat. The other students erupted in a mixture of cheers and laughter as Iruka sensei gave the signal to end the match and went to check on Naruto.

Once it was determined that Naruto was not severely hurt, Iruka sensei scanned his clipboard again and Shino felt his breath catch in his throat. He knew that inevitably he would have to fight, but some part of him knew that the longer he was able to wait, the longer he could call Yoko his friend. He was able to let out a small sigh of relief as Iruka sensei called out,

"Kimura Yoko and Yamanaka Ino!"

Shino watched as Ino casually tightened her ponytail and made her way gracefully out into the center of mat. Yoko, on the other hand, was not so lucky and as she was making her way to the center, she seemingly tripped on thin air. She went flying and landed face first at Ino's feet. This is one thing Shino had noticed about the purple haired girl; she seemed to have no center of balance and was constantly falling over nothing.

Yoko rose to her feet, her cheeks slightly red as laughter filled the room, and seemed to brace herself. They both bowed and after the signal was given, they were off.

For someone who had the ability to fall for no reason at all, Yoko managed to dodge Ino's kicks and punches rather well. She even seemed to magically attain some of the grace she lacked at any other moment on a day to day basis.

This was short lived, however, when Ino stopped throwing punches and kicks in Yoko's direction so that she could regain her breath. Yoko apparently saw this opening and swung her fist out at Ino's face. Ino instinctively raised her arms up to protect her face, but just as quickly as she did that, she must have realized it was not needed. She quickly lowered her arms and began pointing and laughing at Yoko who was now on the ground, having underestimated the distance between her and Ino.

Shino shook his head, but could not bring himself to go help the purple haired girl sprawled out on the mat. He watched as she once again picked herself up and walked back to his side at Iruka sensei's signal, head held high as the laughter behind her ensued.

Yoko positioned herself next to Shino once again, trying to block out the laughter that was still radiating throughout the training room.

Was it her fault that gravity seemed to hate her?

Was it her fault that the floor seemed to spring up at inopportune moments just to bring her crashing down?

Yoko had long been fighting this battle with one of nature's most basic laws and was determined to win. She would show everyone that one did not necessarily need a perfect sense of balance to become a shinobi. She was just as good as any of them…besides she liked to think that she fell with style in a way that only a true shinobi could.

Yoko was snapped out of her thoughts by Iruka sensei announcing the next pair of fighter's,

"Inuzuka Kiba and Aburame Shino!"

She glanced next to her and she could have sworn she heard Shino let out a shaky breath. She quickly noticed everyone else cheering for Kiba and decided to cheer her new friend on, despite popular opinion. Waving her arms, she cheered for Shino as he approached the middle of the mat and glanced over to see Kiba and his dog Akamaru stepping on to the mat. Kiba laughed as he approached Shino,

"Come on Akamaru let's show this guy how real shinobi fight! Just be careful, old buddy, we don't want you going home with any fleas!" The class broke into laughter at this and Yoko stared on, not understanding the joke.

Iruka sensei gave the signal and Kiba and Akamaru charged Shino head on. Shino threw his arms up to protect himself, but otherwise did not seem to want to put much effort in to blocking their shots. Continuing to have Shino dodge his and Akamaru's shots, Kiba spoke up,

"Come on Shino, I know they are in there somewhere. Show us the great power of the Aburame clan!" With one final swipe it looked like Kiba was going to land a shot on Shino.

Then something amazing happened. Hundreds, possibly thousands of insects appeared from within Shino's sleeves, instantly blocking Kiba's shot. Suddenly, the room grew quiet and then the whispers broke out. Yoko was suddenly bombarded by whispers of,

"Did you see that? _Freak!_"

"Look at bug-boy…that's sooooo gross!"

Yoko stood there, mouth slightly agape as the insects flew back into Shino's sleeves. She was amazed that her friend had such a cool power and could not bring herself to go congratulate him on how amazing that move was. Just as she was getting over her amazement, however, she noticed Shino looked directly at her.

She stepped forward to say something when he broke into a run. He shoved right past her and ran out of the training room. Yoko stood there momentarily in shock, before regaining her senses and running after him, calling his name.

**Final thoughts: First of all I would like to thank my beta-reader, DiAnna44, once again for reading over my work before it was posted for you lovely people! If it wasn't for her you would be getting what we've been calling "massive walls of text" throughout the chapter. Also I would like to thank everyone who read and reviewed so far, it's great to know you guys are enjoying this story so far! Until next time…=P**


	3. Chapter 3

Yoko ran full speed out the front doors of the Academy, ignoring the shouts from Iruka sensei behind her. When she got out onto the street, she looked left and right, desperately trying to figure out which way Shino had run. To her right she caught sight of him running around the corner and immediately took off again in her pursuit. Shouting his name as loud as she could, Yoko was once again forced into a battle with her long-time enemy.

Before she even knew what was happening, Yoko found herself face to face with the ground beneath her. Not wasting any time, she jumped right back up and continued around the corner ready to continue chasing after Shino.

As soon as she turned the corner, however, she realized that her momentary fall earlier had allowed Shino to escape into the busy streets of Konoha. Yoko figured that Shino had ran home, but the problem was she did not know where the Aburame compound was.

She knew it had to be somewhere on the outskirts of town. That's where most of the clan compounds were anyway. Yoko slid back against the wall behind her and sat on the ground. Pulling her knees up against her, she rested her arms on top of her knees and lay her head down on top of them. She sighed in frustration.

Why didn't she secretly follow him home from the academy that one day like she had wanted to?

Sure at the time she had decided it would be a tiny bit creepy, but now looking at the grand scheme of things, Yoko decided it would have been for Shino's own good. Letting out another sigh, she realized she would just have to figure out another way to find out where the Aburame compound was located. She was not giving up this easily. She was going to knock some sense into Shino's head whether he liked it or not.

That's what friends did, right?

Just as Yoko was beginning to come up with another plan, she noticed a soft buzzing noise near her ear. Bringing her hand up, she swatted the offended bug and tried to resume planning.

_Tried_ being the operative word. The insect continued buzzing around her head, causing Yoko to begin swatting at it over and over again. The insect finally landed on her hand and just as she was about to bring her other hand down to squish it, she stopped.

Looking more closely at the insect, Yoko realized that it was one of the same insects that Shino had used earlier to defend himself. She raised the insect up to eye level and studied it for a moment.

Then, in an act that surely would have confirmed everyone's suspicions of her being a complete nutcase, Yoko spoke to it,

"Can you understand me?" The insect twitched its antennae once, "Is that a yes?"

Another twitch, "Did Shino send you?"

Two twitches, "Alright I'll take that as a no. Can you show me where he lives?"

Another twitch. The insect then took flight again and continued down the road away from Yoko. She took this as her cue to follow and hurried off to catch up with the insect. Once she caught up, she slowed down to a walking pace and continued walking in silence. However, Yoko hated silence, so it was only a moment before took a deep breath and began to speak,

"So what is it like living in Shino's clothes? That was really cool early when you guys blocked Kiba's hit! I wish I had cool insect things like you…"

Shino did not know why he was running or even where he was running to, all he knew was that he needed to get as far away from the academy as he possibly could. As soon as he saw the look on Yoko's face when his kikaichu blocked Kiba's hit he knew he had to get out of there. He had seen that look of shock too many times before and knew that it would quickly turn into one of disgust. He couldn't bear to see that appear on Yoko's face, so he ran.

Shouldn't he have expected this though?

Shino realized that some part of him, a rather large part in fact, had hoped that Yoko would be different. It had hoped that she would find out his secret and they could still be friends. Now that there was no hope for that in Shino's mind, he felt a tightening in his chest as he ran. He blocked out everything, focusing purely on getting as far away as possible.

Finally, he realized that his legs had led him home.

Continuing at his hurried pace, Shino ran through the gates of the compound, ignoring the different clan members who tried to stop him and see what was wrong. He ran until he made it to his house, where he burst through the door and came face to face with his mother. Startled by his sudden appearance, she did not move to stop him right away, and he was able to push past her and run up to his room.

Slamming the door behind him, he instructed his kikaichu to block the hinges of the door, so no one could get in. Almost immediately, Shino heard his mother on the other side of the door, asking him to come out. He remained silent and after a few moments he heard her sigh and walk away. Shino curled up into a ball and finally allowed himself to loosen the tight feeling that had been growing in his chest.

He let out a tiny sob and then the floodgates opened.

Shino didn't even know why he was crying.

He had been expecting this to happen for weeks. Every day he braced himself for the time when Yoko would see what he really was. He wanted her to stay his friend, but even so he didn't know why it was effecting him so much.

He had known from his first day at the academy that he probably wouldn't have any friends. He had known to expect the name-calling and mean looks that the other kids gave him. None of this bothered him. What did bother him was thinking of the purple haired girl giving him that same mean look when he went back to the academy and for the life of him, Shino could not figure out why.

Continuing on chatting with the insect flying next to her, Yoko didn't even realize when they entered the Aburame compound. She also didn't notice all of the suspicious looks given to her by the clan members. She just continued on, talking to the insect like it was a normal everyday thing (and let's face it, for Yoko it probably was), not knowing where she was being led.

Finally the insect next to her stopped and then flew away. She watched as it flew higher and higher until it reached one of the windows of the house she had stopped in front of and flew inside. Yoko realized that this must Shino's house. Looking at the large building in front of her, she let her mouth drop for a moment.

This house was _huge_.

Shaking her head in disbelief, Yoko steeled her resolve and marched straight up to the front door of the house. Raising her hand, she knocked urgently on the door and then stood there waiting for an answer. Not a moment later, a woman opened the door. She gazed down at Yoko for a moment with confusion written on her face,

"Hello, may I ask what you are doing in the Aburame compound and on my doorstep no less?" At this, Yoko sighed in frustration.

Couldn't anybody see she needed to talk to Shino _now_?

"I need to talk to Shino. He looked really sad when he ran away from the compound today and I came over to make him happy! He ran too fast, though, and I lost him…but then an insect led me here! I don't know exactly where here is, though, because I wasn't paying much attention…" The woman held up a hand to stop Yoko's long winded speech, with a small smile on her face,

"He's right upstairs, first door on your right. Though he doesn't seem up for visitors at the moment." Yoko grinned and said,

"Then I'll just have to change that. Thanks lady!" Yoko then proceeded to take off up the stairs, as fast as her small legs could carry her.

Once she reached the top of the stairs, she went over to the door that the nice lady downstairs had told her about and tried to open it. The door would not budge, however, so Yoko began banging on it as loud as she could,

"Shino, I know you're in there! Let me in or I'm going to keep doing this all day!" There was no response from inside the room, which just frustrated Yoko,

"You think you're going to get rid of me that easily? I can stay here all day, I don't have anything better to do, and I don't have a life!"

After several minutes of Yoko pounding on the door and screaming like a banshee, she finally heard movement in the room. The door opened and just as Yoko entered she saw Shino sitting on the other side of the room, with his back to her and a bunch of insects disappearing up his sleeves. She heard what sounded surprisingly like a sniffle and then Shino spoke,

"What are you doing here? Isn't it enough I get made fun of everyday at school? Did you come here to pick on me even more?" He said this all in a rush and Yoko stood there for a moment before walking over to the over side of the room,

"You idiot! Why would I come here to make fun of you? I thought we were friends!" This exclamation was delivered with a sharp smack to the back of Shino's head, causing him to speak again,

"Friends? I saw how you looked at me when my kikaichu protected me in class! It's the same looked everyone else gives me before they start looking at me in disgust! Besides, who would ever want to be friends with the bug-freak?" Yoko let out a growl of frustration and smacked him again,

"Would you stop doing that?" he asked.

"I'll stop smacking you when you stop acting like an idiot! Of course I was shocked when those bug things came out of nowhere, who wouldn't be? I was not, however, disgusted. Before you ran off I was going to tell you how cool I thought it was!" Yoko huffed and sat down next to Shino on the bed.

The next few moments were spent in silence as Shino tried to absorb everything that Yoko had just said. Although he had heard it loud and clear, his brain did not seem to be able to process the meaning of her words. It seemed too impossible for him to even comprehend.

She thought my kikaichu were cool?

This though swirled round and round in his head, although he still had trouble grasping it. It was a full ten minutes later that he realized that Yoko was still sitting next to him on his bed, looking at him expectantly. Shino tried to think of something, _anything,_ to say to her, but his mind continued to draw a blank. Finally he opened his mouth, hoping his brain would form the words he was looking for, but all that came out was,

"Huh?" Yoko rolled her eyes and leaned in so their noses were nearly touching,

"I. Thought. Your. Bugs. Were. Cool." Each of her words was punctuated with a long pause, as if speaking to a young child and this cause Shino to snap out of his stupor,

"How could you think they are cool? Everyone else thinks they are weird and gross, that's why no one wants to talk to me. That's why everyone avoids my clan." Yoko rolled her eyes once again,

"Since when have I ever been considered normal? I'm weird and I like weird things. Besides your bugs are a part of you, just like being a klutz is a part of who I am. You are still my friend Shino, whether you like it or not!" Shino groaned in fake annoyance,

"So that means I'm stuck with you?" Yoko laughed and gave him a small shove,

"Yes! Besides I really like your bugs. They're also great to talk to! I didn't even notice where I was until that bug that was leading me, disappeared because we were in the middle of a deep conversation." Shino gave her an odd look,

"Okay so maybe it was a bit one-sided, but still they are great listeners!"

Shino shook his head, once again trying to figure out what this girl was talking about. When would she have met one of his kikaichu? His eyes widened for a moment when the realization hit him. When he started crying one of his kikaichu must have escaped temporarily and found Yoko. Sometimes when he lost his emotions, he would lose control of some of the kikaichu and they would be free to do what they wanted until he was back to normal.

Normally, though, they wouldn't wander that far away from him. He shook his head and began focusing, once again, on the curious girl next to him. Yoko was still chatting away, not noticing, or possibly caring, that he was no longer paying attention. She was moving her arms in a very animated fashion, trying to help describe her journey from the academy. At that moment Shino looked up and stared at Yoko before cutting her off mid-story,

"I just realized…we just ditched school." Yoko gave him a look clearly stating she did not see what the big deal was,

"Iruka sensei is going to be so mad!" Shino exclaimed, feeling the need to explain to Yoko how bad this was.

Whether it was the statement itself or the look of pure terror on his face, he'll never know, but suddenly Yoko burst out laughing. After a moment Shino realized how contagious it was, when he too was overcome with laughter.

He finally felt like a weight had been lifted off his shoulders and for some reason this made him feel extremely happy. As he began to regain control of himself he looked over at Yoko who was also beginning to calm herself down. They made eye contact and both fell over laughing once more. Shino couldn't shake the feeling that his life was going to be very interesting from now on.

**A/N: Thanks again to my wonderful beta and to everyone who is reading this story! Also thanks to everyone who had taken the time out to review my story. Can't wait to hear what ou guys think about this chapter!**


	4. Chapter 4

"SHINO!"

There was barely any reaction as this scream rang out through the Aburame compound. People just shook their heads and chuckled good naturedly as the young, purple haired girl ran by full speed to the clan's main house. Yoko was waving her arms frantically and didn't even notice the amused looks she was getting from the rest of the clan. This happened on a daily basis and what she had to tell Shino was much more important.

What could be more important than what his best friend had to say, right?

Yoko ran up to the familiar house at the far end of the compound and began banging on the door. After a few moments she realized that nobody was home and she sat down on the front step of the house, a frustrated expression on her face.

She knew Shino was probably off practicing some top-secret clan jutsu, but she was sure what she had to say was so much more important.

Running her hand through her hair, which now came down all the way to her mid-back, Yoko let herself get lost in thought.

It had been almost two-years since that fateful day when Yoko finally beat it into Shino's head that she wasn't leaving. Ever since that day, the two of them had been nearly inseparable and she wouldn't have it any other way.

Once Shino realized she wasn't going to leave him, he began to open up and Yoko had quickly realized there was a lot about her best friend that she didn't know. This didn't surprise her, however, due to the fact that in their first few weeks of friendship it had been her who had done all of the talking for both of them.

That was one thing that hadn't changed. Most of their time spent together involved a lot of talking on Yoko's end and a lot of listening on Shino's.

She wouldn't change this for the world, though. It made her happy that he was still the same Shino she had attached herself to in the academy. He still wore the extremely high-necked trench coat and his sunglasses. He had grown a few inches in the past couple years, but save that, everything else was just as it had always been.

Shino was like the Yin to her Yang. Where she was loud, talkative, reckless and easily distracted, Shino was the exact opposite. He was quiet, reserved, focused and always thought everything through before he did it. Yoko often heard people wondering how the two of them could be such close friends because of this, but she liked to think that it was because they were so different that they worked well together.

When asked directly, Yoko explained it like this: She was the one who would dive headfirst off a cliff without even looking. While, on the other hand, Shino already had ten different plans on how to save her from dying when she hit the bottom.

In the end, though, it came down to one simple fact. Yoko finally had someone who accepted her for all of her annoyances and Shino finally had someone who accepted him for his clan's differences and neither one of them was going to let that go.

This fact had been quickly reaffirmed to Yoko not long after they solidified their friendship. It was one of the things she learned about Shino rather quickly. He was extremely loyal and would not let anyone mess with her as long as he was around.

No matter how often she told him that she could handle herself, he always stepped in and took care of the situation himself. The first time this had happened, it infuriated Yoko.

_It was about a month after the whole fiasco where Yoko had to chase Shino home and beat some sense into him. They had both returned to school the next day, expecting punishment for leaving the academy so abruptly. Iruka sensei, however, praised Yoko for standing by her friend and faces the consequences of her actions. He did, however, warn them that if it happened again he would not be so lenient._

_After that everything at the academy went back to normal. Yoko was still late just about every single day, no matter how hard Shino tried to get her there on time. Everyone still whispered and talked behind their backs and they both carried on like this wasn't happening. They continued to learn the ways of the shinobi and it seemed like everything was back to normal._

_On this particular day, however, it seemed that Ino had gotten up on the wrong side of the bed and had chosen to take her frustrations out on the easiest target. This is how Yoko found herself back up against a wall, as the rest of her class jeered and laughed at her predicament. Ino was going off about how gross Shino was and how Yoko was probably infected with fleas or something by now._

_Finally, Yoko had had enough and shoved Ino back with all of her might. Everyone around them gasped and Ino looked back at her with a dark glare. Yoko knew the smart thing to do would be to get as far away from Ino as possible, but since when did she ever do the smart thing? She began to approach Ino, when suddenly she felt an all too familiar sensation. Before she knew it, she was saying hello to her old friend, the floor. Ino let out a loud laugh,_

"_How did someone like you get into the academy? You can't even stand on your own two feet!" A vindictive smile formed on her face, "Let's see how well you do against my clan's jutsu!"_

_Yoko's eye's widened, but before she could even react to this statement Ino screamed. She was suddenly covered in hundreds of little bugs. Yoko watched as Ino ran down the hallway, the kikaichu hot on her tail. A few moments later, the bugs returned and Yoko glanced to her left to see them disappear up Shino's sleeves._

_Now that the fun was over, the rest of the class dispersed. Yoko stood up and brushed herself off, before turned on Shino with a stern look on her face. She walked over to him and jabbed a finger into his chest,_

"_Why did you step in? I could've handled it myself!" Shino merely stared down the hall in the direction that Ino had run,_

"_I had no doubts you could've handled yourself. Then why did I step in? Because you are my friend and I will never let my friends get hurt if I can help it."_

To this day, she remembered how simply he had stated this fact. She found that because of this, she couldn't stay mad at him.

Who was she to be mad at him for wanting to protect his friends?

From then on, she and Shino had an unspoken agreement. He would let her fight her own battles just enough so that her pride wasn't wounded. Then he would step in and save the day, so that he could feel like he was still protecting his friend.

Yoko was quickly jolted out of these thoughts, however, by the sound of someone approaching.

Shino wiped the sweat from his brow as he walked. His father had taking him out to the compound's training grounds to teach him another clan jutsu and he was exhausted. As he approached his house, thoughts of a nice, comfortable bed filling his mind, he noticed a familiar figure sitting on the front step of his family's house.

Before he could even react, the purple haired girl was running full force at him. She threw her arms around his waist and effectively knocked them both to the ground.

Shino rolled his eyes at her antics, although he knew she couldn't see due to his sunglasses, and quickly rolled out from underneath her. Yoko stood up, still giggling, and then as if she just remember the whole reason she knock him over, she let out a big gasp.

She ran over to him and grabbed both of his shoulders and began shaking him out of excitement. Shino did not even bother to ask why she was so excited, he knew she would get it out eventually. He also knew that until then there was no point in trying to extract the information from her. Yoko _always_ did things on her own schedule.

As she continued with her abuse on his poor body, Shino looked at the girl standing in front of him. In the two years since he had met her she had not changed very much. The only thing that was different was that her hair was much longer and she was a few inches taller. This was not, however, his reason for studying her.

Even after two years, Shino felt the need to keep a constant watch over Yoko, for fear that she would one day come to her senses and disappear. Although some people would say that there was never a fear of Yoko coming to her senses, Shino had grown attached to the loud and reckless girl.

She was the first person outside of his family who had accepted him for who he was, kikaichu and all. If he had anything to say about it she would never leave his side.

He still remembered the day he had taken her down to the compounds training ground.

_She had been nagging him over and over to see him and kikaichu in action. After two weeks of her constantly bringing up the subject, Shino relented against his better judgment. Ever since that day at the academy, Shino had kept his kikaichu hidden around Yoko. _

_He still feared that if she saw them again, she would realize she had made a horrible mistake and never speak to him again._

_On the way down to the training ground, Yoko chatted excitedly about finally getting to see his kikaichu in action. Her words were enhanced by the many hand signs and arm movements that Yoko always used when she was excited. _

_They finally made it to the training ground, where his father was already training with a few other members of the clan._

_As the two of them approached, the members stopped what they were doing and Shino realized they must have been working on some clan jutsu. Shino approached his father,_

"_Sorry to interrupt father, but Yoko has been bugging me to come down here." Shibi glanced over his glasses at his son,_

"_And why would she want to see the Aburame training ground?" Shino rubbed the back of his neck and hoped his father would turn them away,_

"_She wants to see my kikaichu fight." He said this in a strained whisper and only looked up when Shibi began speaking,_

"_Well then let's give her a show!" Shino caught the knowing look his father gave to the other members of the clan and sighed,_

"_I guess I have no choice then." He turned to Yoko who had situated herself up in one of the many trees surrounded the training area and gave her a thumbs up._

_He watched as she squealed in delight and clapped her hands together. He also watched as she nearly lost her balance, before grabbing onto the branch above her head to stop herself from falling out of the tree. Shino shook his head and turned back to his father, who was already in a fighting stance._

"_Son this fight will be taijutsu and kikaichu only." Shino nodded his assent and the two took off at each other._

_After what seemed like an eternity to Shino, Shibi called the fight and patted Shino on the shoulder to show how proud he was at his son's improvements. Shino, however, was more occupied in trying to remember how to breathe as he turned around to face Yoko. _

_He had purposefully kept his focus off of her, during the entire spar incase her reaction wasn't something he wanted to see._

_Before he could contemplate the best way to face the situation, however, he felt himself being forcefully knocked to the ground. Opening his eyes after the impact, he came face to face with a grinning Yoko. He face was so close to his that their noses were almost touching and then she spoke,_

"_That was so cool!"_

To this day, Shino was shocked by her response, but he figured it was best not to argue with her. He had learned rather quickly over the years that the best way to avoid being smacked in the back of the head was to just agree with whatever Yoko said. So if she said his kikaichu were cool, then they were cool.

Shino knew that the probability of Yoko convincing any of the other villagers of this was slim to none, but Shino had soon realized that he didn't care. As long as Yoko thought they were cool, he was happy.

Not too long after that, Yoko became an almost permanent fixture in the Aburame compound. Once word got around to the rest of the clan that this odd little girl actually like their kikaichu, she was accepted immediately.

Shino had watched at the rest of his clan became just as attached to Yoko as he had. Yoko just had this way of working her way into people's lives, whether they wanted her too or not. She had even managed to inch her way into his family. Not that he minded.

After the day at the training grounds, his father had told Yoko that she was always welcome at their house. Although, she had always been welcome, Shino knew that his father stating this out loud had a double meaning. In his eyes, Yoko was now family.

Shino was snapped back to reality, however, when he felt a sharp smack to the back of his head. He looked at Yoko, who was glaring back at him, and realized that she must be ready to tell him whatever was so important. He gestured for her to continue and she took a deep breath,

"Guess what Iruka sensei just told me! I get to start private lesson with him at the academy. This is _so_ _cool_. I'm probably going to get to learn cool jutsu just like you! Then we can both become really awesome ninja and…"

Shino chuckled and began to walk into his house with Yoko tailing right behind him, still talking at full speed. He was glad that some things never changed.

**A/N: Hope you guys enjoyed this chapter! Thank you to all my readers and especially to those who reviewed. I love hearing your thoughts on my story as it progresses. Sorry this chapter took longer than normal, but I literally rewrote it 3 times. Also once again I need to say thank you to my beta, because without her this chapter might have still been unposted.**


	5. Chapter 5

Yoko collapsed on the ground, sweat dripping from her body and breathing heavily. Her muscles were screaming out in pain and she felt as if her entire body had been lit on fire. She felt like she could just curl up in a ball and go to sleep for the rest of her life. She wanted to scream out in frustration, she wanted to just throw her hands up and walk away.

She just wanted to be _done_.

But what about Shino?

That was the only thought that had kept her going day after day for the past two weeks. It was the fire that fueled her determination and was her sole reason for not throwing in the towel. It was this thought that allowed her to force her aching muscles back into a standing position. It was this thought that allowed her continue practicing her movements, even when she felt like she would pass out from pain and exhaustion.

It was this thought that kept her dream alive.

Yoko had barely spoken to Shino in the past two weeks. When she was at the academy she was too focused on learning absolutely everything she needed to know about being a shinobi. At lunch she ate her food in the academy's library so that she could study some more. Afterwards, she went straight to one of the training grounds and began practicing until she literally had to drag herself home due to the pain and exhaustion she felt.

Every day at school Yoko saw how her withdrawal was upsetting Shino. She saw him watching her every day, looking like he had something to say before deciding against it. It killed her to see her best friend in so much pain, but she had no choice. This was the only way that Shino and she could continue to be as close as they are.

It was the only way that they could truly continue to be _best friends forever_.

Yoko was doing all of this to make sure that _nothing_ came between them and their friendship.

He would understand, right?

_It had been two weeks ago, the day after Yoko had announced to Shino about her private lessons with Iruka-sensei. After school she had went to the training rooms as instructed and was waiting in the center of the room, bouncing up and down on the soles of her feet. She could not wait to get started with her private lessons._

_She had been unable to fall asleep the night before due to her excitement. She had laid in bed all night, staring at the ceiling and thinking about all the cool jutsu that Iruka-sensei would be teaching her. She just knew that by the time she was done with her training, she was going to be a super powerful shinobi._

_As she stood there completely lost in her excited thoughts, Iruka-sensei entered the room. Her attention snapped directly to him and she stood there with a wide smile on her face. Iruka-sensei motioned for her to sit down and she noticed he had a very serious look on his face. This, however, did not deter Yoko and she continued to bounce up and down in excitement from her new sitting position._

_Iruka-sensei sat down right in front of Yoko and merely stared at her for a few moments. He then took a deep breath and began to speak in a soft tone,_

"_Yoko, do you know why you are having these private lessons?" Yoko nodded and began waving her arms around wildly,_

"_It's because I am going to become a super awesome shinobi! You are going to teach me all kinds of powerful jutsu and I am going to kick butt and…" Iruka-sensei held up a hand to silence her,_

"_Yoko I am sorry to inform you, but that is _not_ the reason you have been chosen for these private lessons. The reason you have been chosen for these private lessons is because as of right now, you have no hope of graduating from the academy…"_

_At these words, all time seemed to come to a halt for Yoko. Everything went silent, except for those same words echoing in her mind. _

No hope of graduating from the academy…

_She sat there frozen in shock. She couldn't move, she couldn't breathe, she couldn't think. Nothing in the world made sense to her at that moment and it felt like nothing ever would again. After a few moments, Yoko felt herself begin to breathe again and one single thought trickled into her mind._

_Why?_

_She must have said this out loud without realizing it because almost immediately Iruka-sensei began to speak, answering her question,_

"_Yoko this is very hard for me to tell you. You know that shinobi are meant to have one main purpose and that purpose is to protect and serve their village at all costs. Therefore, when children begin training at the academy they are separated into two group. Those with kekkei genkai and those without. Those with kekkei genkai are pretty much considered shinobi from the time they enter the academy, this training is merely a formality to appease those families who do not possess one._

_The clans of these children will often train these children outside of the academy and therefore the academy holds very little use for these children. They only come here because it is required of them to officially become shinobi. This is why some graduate at such early ages._

_Those without kekkei genkai are kept under close watch from the moment they enter the academy. They are constantly watched and evaluated to see if they show any special abilities. If they do, they continue on training with the other group as if there was no difference, their abilities will be cultivated later when they graduate._

_However, if they do not show any special abilities they are put into extra lessons to allow us to evaluate their progress. Villages cannot afford to have week ninja, Yoko, they are just a liability. The academy main job is to sort through those students who do not possess a kekkei genkai and weed out the weak from those with potential._

_Yoko, you have not shown any significant ability from your time at the academy so far. That is not to say that you won't develop one as your training continues, but until that time you will need to continue these lessons with me and train on your own. When graduation time comes and if you have not shown any unique ability, you will be assessed separately from your peers to see if you are considered strong enough to enter the field with them. If you are determined to not be strong enough, your chance at becoming a shinobi will cease to exist."_

_For the first time in her life, Yoko listened to him speak without any interruptions or random noises coming from herself. For the first time in her life, Yoko realized that if she did not take this seriously her dream would be over. More importantly, however, if she did not take this seriously Shino would go on to graduate without her. She balled her hands into fists and stood up, all excitement gone from her eyes as she spoke,_

"_Then what are we waiting for sensei? Let's train."_

From that moment on Yoko vowed to do nothing but eat, sleep and breathe training. Even if she had no special power she would become as strong as her classmates, if not stronger. Not only did she want to keep her dream alive, but Yoko could not bear to think about losing Shino.

She knew the chances of them staying close if she didn't graduate were slim to none. Shinobi lived dangerous and fast paced lives, Shino would never have time for a civilian in his life. This is why she worked so hard and she just hoped the Shino would one day understand.

Shino stood at the edge of the training grounds watching Yoko continuously go over different taijutsu stances. He had been standing there for hours now, watching her train and was amazed at how hard she was pushing herself. He had not yet worked up the courage to go speak to her, so for now he was content to watch her from a distance.

After the academy had let out that day, Shino had one of his female kikaichu follow Yoko. He was surprised when he was lead to one of the training grounds of all places. He figured that this would be the last place that Yoko would ever go because she had always said that they did enough of that at the academy.

Originally Shino had followed her here to confront her about why she had been ignoring him for the past two weeks. It had been eating at him ever since that first day at the academy when she did not return his greeting and then did not show up to eat lunch with him like she had every other day for the past two years. At first he had brushed it off because Yoko was rarely ever predictable, but after it continued day after day he began to worry.

Had Yoko finally come to her senses and decided she did not want to be his friend anymore?

This thought had kept him up many nights for the past two weeks. He was constantly battling himself about what he should do. One part of him said that he should just let her go.

Who was he to force her to hang out with him?

The other part of him, a much larger part, kept telling him that he should go fight for their friendship. Hadn't Yoko done the same thing two years ago when she chased him from the academy all the way to his house? So finally, Shino had given into that part of himself and decided that he would not let Yoko go without a fight.

This, however, was easier said than done. Shino was not an aggressive person by nature and tried to avoid conflict at all costs. Besides there was still the nagging thought in the back of his head asking him what he would do if she said she wanted nothing more to do with him.

Could he really take the rejection from his best friend?

Shino took a deep breath and steeled himself. It was now or never. He needed to know what Yoko was thinking. If she said she didn't want to be friends with him anymore, then he wouldn't push it. But he just had to know _why_. He needed to know if it was something he had done, something he could fix. Or had she merely come to her sense after these past two years?

Shino made his way across the training grounds, waiting for the moment when Yoko noticed his presence. She must been extremely engrossed in her training, however, because he was able to walk up right behind her without her stopping. Shino took a deep breath and then sighed,

"You should always be aware of your surroundings. What if I was an enemy? I could have easily snuck up on you and killed you without you even knowing what was happening." As he said this, Yoko jumped from shock and then collapsed on the ground.

Looking down at her, Shino saw her looking up and giving him one of her infamous glares. Ignoring this he sat down next to her and looked out across the training field. His chest felt like it was tightening in on him, but he forced himself to speak,

"Yoko we need to talk." When no response was given, he continued. "Do you not wish to be my friend anymore?"

Watching Shino looked out across the training grounds, Yoko's eyes widened in shock. She sat there frozen for a moment, trying to process Shino's question. It kept swirling around in her mind and it took her a moment to fully understand what he was asking. Quickly though, her shock grew into anger and she clenched her fists.

Didn't this idiot know she was doing this all for him?

Without even thinking, Yoko brought a hand up and struck the back of his head. Unlike the other times when it was meant to be playful, however, this time she wanted to hurt him. She needed to knock the stupid out of his head before he came up with any other crazy ideas. As soon as she did this, Shino turned his head sharply and looked at her. Although she could not see his eyes, Yoko was pretty sure he was glaring at her,

"What did you do that for?" Yoko rolled her eyes at him,

"That was the stupidest question I have ever heard! And trust me, I ask stupid questions all the time!" She heard Shino growl in frustration,

"How was that stupid? You haven't talked to me, you haven't barely looked at me in two weeks! What am I supposed to think? If you don't want to be my friend anymore just say it! Don't drag this out."

At this point Yoko got angry, angrier than she had ever been before. She had spent the last two weeks working her butt off to make sure that their friendship would be safe and he thinks she didn't want to be his friend anymore? She could not believe the words coming from his mouth. She had thought that when she told him that she wasn't leaving he had actually believed her. Using all of the energy she had left Yoko began yelling like she had never yelled before,

"You idiot! Do you think I like not being able to hang out with you? I miss you and the compound and your bugs! I miss eating dinner with your family and all that stuff. But if I don't train like this, if I don't make this my life are friendship is going to end. I am doing this all for us you idiot and you have the nerve to ask me if I don't want to be friends with you anymore?"

Shino sat there in shock from her outburst for a moment before speaking,

"What are you talking about?"

Yoko took a deep breath, willing herself to calm down,

"During my first lesson with Iruka-sensei he told me that if I didn't begin to show some unique ability or become just as strong as you guys without one, I am not going to be graduating from the academy. If that happens what will happen to our friendship? You will be out doing missions all the time and I'll be stuck in the village doing who knows what! Even if we could see each other when you are in the village we would have nothing to talk about because you couldn't tell me anything you were doing because I was a civilian!

So I decided that I needed to start training and do nothing but train until I was as strong as the rest of you. Even if it meant not seeing you now, it would mean we could stay best friends forever if I could just become strong enough. I didn't do this because I wanted our friendship to end, Shino. I did this because I was trying to save it."

They sat there in silence for a few moments and Yoko guessed that Shino was trying to process all of this information. She began picking at a blade of grass, waiting for him to say something, _anything_. Finally she heard him sigh and he began to speak,

"I always knew that the favored those of us with kekkei genkai, but I never knew it went this far. Yoko, why didn't you tell me? I could've been helping you train. I'm sure my clans training regimen would do much more for you than whatever Iruka-sensei if trying to teach you." Yoko pondered this for a moment,

"I didn't tell you because then I would have to admit I was weak. That's the whole point of this, isn't it? Proving to myself and everyone else that I am not just some weak civilian girl."

Shino chuckled and shook his head. Before Yoko knew what was happening, she felt a hand hit her lightly on the back of the head. Rubbing the back of her head, Yoko glared at Shino, who in return just gave her a small smile.

"Yoko, shinobi are most often sent out in squads of four. Why? Because even the strong shinobi knows when he must ask for help. Every shinobi knows that they cannot do everything and therefore must rely on their comrades to help them become strong and fight. I am your comrade, Yoko, and if I have anything to say about it you _will_ be graduating from the academy with me.

I can't show you any secret clan techniques or jutsu, although they would do nothing for you anyway because you do not possess kikaichu. But I can help you train in other aspects. In fact, before you stopped speaking to me, my father had asked me to extend an invitation to you to come train with us when we weren't doing anything related to clan secrets."

"Really?" Yoko breathed, looking at Shino in shock,

"Of course! My dad thinks of you like a daughter, and besides... you are stuck with me whether you like it or not!"

After he said this, Yoko fell back on the ground laughing and crying in relief. She had been so worried over the past two weeks about not losing her friendship with Shino, that she forgot the most important part about having friends. She had been so wrapped up in doing everything on her own that she forgot that she could just go ask Shino for help.

Now with that weight lifted off her shoulder, Yoko felt that once again everything was falling into place. As she tried to calm herself down, she began to think about her future and realized that it was looking much brighter than it had before.

**A/N: First of all I would like to apologize for the wait. I was on vacation for the past week and therefore not writing. However, I hope you enjoy this chapter and I can't wait to hear what you guys think! Thanks again to my beta DiAnna44 and all of my readers!**


	6. Chapter 6

Yoko, once again, was losing an epic battle with gravity.

She could already see the grass covered ground speeding towards her face. At the same moment, she felt a presence behind her and quickly pulled a kunai out of the pouch on her left leg. Using what little momentum and time she had left, Yoko turned her body and allowed her kunai to make contact with the one that had been moving towards her neck.

There was a familiar sound of metal hitting metal, but not a moment later the kunai was pulled from her hand by a group of insects. She finally tumbled to the ground and realized that it was over.

Kneeling over her, she watched as Shino allowed a small smile to pass over his features before bringing the kunai to her neck. Rolling her eyes, Yoko gave the signal that she was conceding the match to him and he pulled back.

He swiftly put his kunai away and extended a hand out to her. Yoko grabbed on to it and allowed herself to be pulled to her feet. She let out an annoyed sigh and made her way over to the nearby tree to allow herself to relax in the shade for a moment before they continued. As she walked over, she began to think about the last month.

Ever since Shino had found out about her predicament at the academy, they had been training together nearly every day. Due to Shibi's blessing, he had begun using the same training regimen on her that had been used on him before he had even entered the academy. Although not a clan secret, Yoko had found out from Shino that each clan had their own way to approaching the training of up and coming shinobi.

Shino had started Yoko off at the very beginning and although going back to the basics had annoyed her at first, she soon realized the benefits to following the Aburame training regimen. She began to see herself improve by leaps and bounds over only a couple of weeks. She couldn't believe how much of a difference that a simple change in her training routine could make.

Yoko realized that the other reason she was improving so greatly was because of who her teacher was. At the academy, Yoko could never be bothered to care if she impressed or disappointed Iruka-sensei. She was happy to just skate by and do nothing more.

Then why was she not only working so hard now, but determined to be the best?

She had asked herself this question many times and one day the answer finally came to her. It was so obvious that she just wanted to smack herself in the back of the head for being so stupid. She realized it was the same reason that she had been training so hard by herself before.

It was because of her best friend. She wanted to not only make him proud, but prove to him that training her wasn't a waste of time.

She was _never_ going to disappoint him if she had anything to say about it.

Still mulling over these thoughts, Yoko plopped down on the grass under the shade of the tree. Not a moment later Shino sat down right next to her and gave her a small triumphant smile that she was only able to see because of his lack of high-necked coat.

It had taken Yoko almost a week to convince him to take it off while they were training, but finally he had relented after grumbling about how it was tradition for his clan to where it. Now each day when they trained, he would forgo the coat in favor of just a mesh undershirt that he wore underneath.

"You really need to watch where you are going. If I had been an enemy you would be dead right now." Yoko rolled her eyes and gave him a light shove,

"That was a dirty move! You know I fall enough on my own, you didn't need to help the process along by tripping me!" Shino chuckled,

"Do you think an enemy ninja isn't going to use your lack of balance against you? You need to learn to overcome it before it becomes a liability." Yoko looked away and muttered,

"It's not my fault I was born without a center of gravity!"

Before they could continue this argument, however, Shibi came speeding out of the trees surrounding the compounds training grounds. He stopped about twenty feet away from them and motioned for Shino to come over to them. Yoko leaned back against the tree and watched as the two Aburame men talked, wondering what was going on.

Shino made his way over to his father and immediately knew something was up. He could just sense how tense his father was before he even approached him and even his kikaichu began to react to the heaviness in the air. He began scanning his mind for any of the millions of possibilities about what could be wrong.

In the moments it took him to reach his father, Shino already had about one hundred different scenarios running through his head, each worse than the last.

He stopped in front of his father and waited for him to impart whatever bad news he had to tell him. When his father did not speak right away, Shino began to get anxious, but knew not to ask. He could tell his father was still processing whatever it was that he had to tell Shino himself, so Shino knew it would be pointless to press his father for information. A moment later though, his father spoke,

"Shino, something rather disturbing occurred yesterday and I just recently found out about it. I believe it would be best if you asked Yoko to go home early today." Shino eyed his father and asked,

"What happened Father? Why would Yoko need to go home?" The older man sighed,

"The Uchiha clan was murdered last night; all of them are dead except for one."

Shino let this sink in for a moment before his mind began running on overdrive. His mind began running through all of the possibilities about _why _this massacre would have occurred. As his mind reels with all of these new thoughts, it suddenly grinded to a halt. He looked at his father and quickly asked,

"Why does Yoko have to leave then? What does this have to do with us?" His father gave him a calculating look,

"Shino there has been no official announcement about this massacre as of yet. What I have found out, I have heard through the grapevine. For whatever reason, the Hokage did not want word to get out about this yet. Although, I do not believe out Hokage would target us, we do not have all of the information yet and therefore it is prudent to be prepared for the worst can scenario."

It was at this moment that all of the puzzle pieces began to fall into place for Shino. He had heard about clan massacres in other villages. Entire clans that had been annihilated in the middle of the night because those in power feared them. This is why clans had so many secrets, to keep outsiders from seeing their full power and potential.

It was not a far leap to assume something similar was happening right now due to the lack of information that was being released at the given moment. In fact, it was a fairly reasonable assumption to make at this point. One of the Leaf Village's most powerful bloodlines had just been wiped out overnight and no one knew why. Shino knew that all of the clans were probably preparing for the worst and going into lockdown at the moment.

Shino also realized that he needed to get Yoko out of here _now_. If what they were thinking was true, she was in just as much danger as the rest of the clan if she stayed here. If someone came to wipe out their clan, they wouldn't stop to ask Yoko if she had kikaichu or not.

Shino gave his father a slight nod and hurried back over to Yoko.

Yoko stood up and brushed herself off as Shino made his way back over to her. She watched as he quickly put on his jacket and motioned for her to follow him. He seemed rushed and although stoic as ever, she could tell he was worried about something. She fell into step beside him and sent a questioning glance his way, causing him to speak,

"Something bad happened last night. The Uchiha clan was murdered. Why? We do not know yet, so my father and feel it would be better if you went home early today."

Yoko let this sink in, although she could not understand why this had Shino worried. It was a horrible tragedy, yes, but what did this have to do with him?

She did not get time to ask this question, though, because they were quickly approaching the compound's main entrance. Shino was picking up his pace and Yoko forced herself to keep up with him. When they finally reached the entrance, Shino came to a stop. He turned and face Yoko and held up his hand. On it sat a kikaichu and Yoko gave him a confused look. The insect immediately flew off of its hand and landed on her shoulder,

"Yoko that is one of my female kikaichu. You know my males can track the scent of a female. I want you to allow her to stay with you. If something were to happen to you, she could come inform me or I would be able to find you almost immediately if necessary." Yoko leaned over and gave Shino a small hug,

"I'm sure I'll be fine, I don't know what you are so worried about. However, if it'll make you feel better she can come home with me."

Shino nodded and turned to head back into the compound. Yoko shrugged her shoulders and began to make her way back home. Glancing at the female bug on her shoulder, Yoko began to speak,

"I wonder why Shino is so worried. It's nice that he cares and all but it's making me nervous. He's never sent one of you guys home with me before…"

This one sided conversation carried Yoko all the way home. Standing out in front of her house, Yoko stared at it for a long moment. It was not nearly as nice as Shino's house, however it was enough for her and her parents. It was a cozy two-story home in the middle of the civilian market district.

Her parents were both merchants so the house served its purpose in allowing them access to all of the vendors in the market district. The outside was worn and faded and it blended in with the other houses on either side of it. Just like her parents, it was normal and safe.

The two things they always strived for.

This was actually one of the reasons why Yoko enjoyed spending time at the Aburame compound.

Ever since she could remember, her parents and she had not seen eye to eye on many things. Where they liked things to be orderly, calm and normal, Yoko was the exact opposite.

Then came the day when she had told them that she wanted to go to the ninja academy. She had thought her mother was going to have a stroke and her father immediately forbade her.

The fight lasted a week, in which time Yoko did not speak or look at her parents once. Finally, her parents relented and let her join the academy, but Yoko knew at that moment things would never be the same at home.

Not only was her relationship with her parents already strained at the young age of six, but now they really would have nothing to talk about. Her parents wanted nothing to do with this new lifestyle Yoko had chosen to pursue. Eventually, Yoko began to feel like a stranger in her own home, but that was alright.

At the compound, she was surrounded by family. All of the clan members had welcomed her with open arms and Shino's family were always welcoming her into their home. She finally felt like she belonged somewhere when she was with the Aburame clan and for that she would always be thankful to Shino and his family.

Taking a deep breath, Yoko pushed open the front door to her house and entered into the kitchen where her mother was preparing food. Yoko went over to the sink and poured herself a glass of water before turning to face he mother who was staring intently at her.

"Shouldn't you be out training or something? Isn't that what you shinobi do?" Yoko huffed and crossed her arms,

"I got finished early today. Besides I figured you'd be happy that I was taking a small break from all of the dangerous shinobi stuff." Her mother's stare hardened,

"Young lady, you may think you can do whatever you want because you have chosen to become a shinobi, but let me tell you in this house it does not matter. You will treat me with respect." Yoko rolled her eyes,

"Maybe when you earn some." She watched her mother's body tense and turn away from her,

"Go up to our room and no supper. I'm tired of you thinking that you are so much better than us. And get that stupid bug off of your shoulder."

This was the last straw for Yoko as she turned around and stormed up to her room.

How could her mother call Shino's insect stupid?

Yoko fell back onto her bed and stared at the kikaichu resting on her hand. She was so tired of being an outcast in her own home. She was tired of her parents not understanding her. She was tired of _everything_. She just wanted to scream and shout until her parents were finally forced to listen to what she had to say.

She wanted to tell them that she hadn't done this just to spite them. She wanted to tell them that it was time to accept her for who she was and not what that had hoped she would become. She wanted to ask them why they stopped caring about her.

Was she really that horrible of a person?

Just as she was getting herself worked, however, another thought flashed into her mind.

At least she still had Shino, right?

With this thought she began to calm herself down and forced herself to think about her best friend. She didn't need her parents approval or for them to care. She had Shino and his family and that's all she needed. She would become a great shinobi and show her parents that being a merchant wasn't the only worthwhile thing to do. She would prove them wrong.

With these thoughts, Yoko let a small smile slip onto her face as she let herself relax for the first time in over a month.

**A/N: As always thank you to my awesome beta and to all of my readers. Especially those nice enough to review! Sorry for the wait again but I have a chemistry final this week so I've been studying like crazy. Hope you all enjoy this new chapter!**


	7. Chapter 7

It was here.

This single, unrelenting thought was the only thing coursing through Yoko's head. All those years of hard work, all those painstaking hours of training with Shino, all those fights with her parents, all of those childhood moments lost, and it all came down to this. _Nothing_ would stand her way today, Yoko was sure of it.

She just had to be sure of it because one moment of uncertainty or fear and this could all be taken away from her in the blink of an eye. Yoko had never felt such conflicting emotions in her eleven years of life. She felt nervous and confident at the same time. Confident because the hardest part was already over. Nervous because if she failed this next part it would be even more humiliating than if she hadn't made it here.

But she could do it, right?

Sitting in the back of the classroom, earlier than everyone else in the class for the first time ever, Yoko took a deep breath and squeezed her eyes shut. In less than half an hour her entire class would be sitting in this room with her waiting to take the graduation exam. For them it was a small one part exam that would then allow them to continue on to become shinobi.

For Yoko it was so much more.

This was her final chance to prove to the village that even though she did not have a clan ability or some other type of specialty that she was just as capable of becoming a shinobi as the rest of her class. She had thought that after yesterday, she would be done and be promoted, but they squashed that notion as quickly as they could.

_Yoko stood in front of several Jounin and the Hokage, trying to regain her breath without looking as utterly exhausted as she felt. She knew that she could not afford to show even the slightest sign of weakness at this moment. She had just been put through the most rigorous physical and mental exam of her life and was now awaiting their decision._

_She knew in this moment her dreams could either be fulfilled or ripped out from under her. She had been cautious all day, making sure everything she did was careful and deliberate. She had not tripped up once, literally and figuratively, and now she could do no more except wait._

_And Yoko hated waiting._

_She just wanted to know the answer _now_. _

_Even as she had grown and matured this had never changed. She was just as impatient as ever. No matter hard Shino had tried, this was one trait he could not train out of her and part of her was glad. The only thing she had feared losing more than dream was herself, so this made her lad in some ways._

_A voice spoke up, causing her to look over at the Hokage respectfully,_

"_Kimura Yoko today you have put all of your skills to the test. We have seen what you are capable of even though you do not possess some sort of unique ability. It is not often that we allow students without such abilities to graduate from the academy because they are often more of a liability than an asset." He paused and took a hit from his pipe,_

"_However, you have proven yourself worthy of the title of shinobi. You have shown great growth, strength and dedication that is not often found among civilian students. As long as you pass the regular graduation exam, you shall become a shinobi."_

_At first Yoko's mind was filled with excitement. She had done it. She had finally fulfilled her dream. These were the thoughts circulating throughout her mind until they came to a sudden halt. Two words escaped her lips questioningly,_

"_Graduation exam?" One of the unnamed Jounin eyed her up,_

"_Of course you must still take the graduation exam. It will raised unwanted questions if you somehow become a shinobi without passing that. So it now falls on your shoulders to make sure you pass, otherwise we will be forced to deny you becoming a shinobi."_

Yoko reached around and smacked herself on the back of her head. She had been so naïve to think that she wouldn't have to take the graduation exam. She had been naïve to think that it was all over and she would finally be handed her dream.

It's not that she was worried about the difficulty surrounding the exam. She had already reason that this exam would be nothing compared to what she had been put through two days ago. It was just the same nerves that had accompanied her right before she took what she thought was her final exam two days ago.

Everything now sat on the shoulders of this last test and she couldn't wait for it just to be over.

At that moment Yoko heard people begin to file into the classroom. She glanced up and spotted Shino heading towards her.

She felt herself calm down immediately. As always Shino was a constant in her life, a rock she could trust in and lean on. Although he had grown about a head and his muscles had filled out more (not that anyone could tell with that jacket he wore), he was still the same old Shino.

Now that he was here, everything was going to be okay.

Shino entered the classroom and his eyes widened behind his sunglasses. Yoko was not only on time, but she was _early_.

It was at that moment that Shino realized how nervous she truly was. Yoko was never on time for anything and she certainly was never early. Shino sighed and made his way up to their seats in the back of the room.

He, unlike Yoko, was not nervous at all. He knew that they were both more than prepared to pass whatever this exam was going to be. He also knew, however, that Yoko had much more riding on this exam than he did. If he did not pass this exam, well, the village needed him. He was the next generation of the Aburame clan and the village needed his kikaichu no matter how much they despised them.

He would always have another chance to become a shinobi.

For Yoko, this was all or nothing. If she did not pass this exam for whatever reason, there would be no second chance.

She was _expendable_. Shino knew it and he knew that Yoko did as well. He could not imagine what would happen to her if she did not pass today.

She gave up everything for this dream. Her free time. Her civilian friends. Most importantly, she had given up her family years ago.

For the longest time Shino had wondered why Yoko always lost that spark in her eye when it was time to go home.

He could never fathom being a stranger in his own household or having parents who wanted no part in his life. His clan was as close knit as it could get, so he was always surrounded by family. He had never imagined that it was not the same for his best friend.

Until the first day he had went over her house.

_It was about a week after the Uchiha massacre. Shino hadn't seen Yoko in that time because of the compound being on lockdown. He had not even gone to the academy. Finally, though, the Hokage had been able to assure the other clans that this was not a sanctioned attack. This was merely the work of a rogue ninja and they had nothing to fear._

_As soon as the compound opened its gates once more, Shino ran out and made his way over to the civilian district. Yoko had once told him where she had lived, but because of all of the training they did he had never been over to her house._

_But now that he was free he just _had_ to see her._

_Finally, he found the house that Yoko had spoken of and approached it. He lightly knocked on the door and stepped back, waiting for someone to answer. A moment later, a woman with the same purple hair as Yoko answered the door and glanced down her nose at him,_

"_Yes?" Shino frowned slightly behind the high neck of his jacket at her tone,_

"_I'm here to see Yoko. Is she in?" At this she stiffened,_

"_Oh you must be one of those awful kids from the academy. I'm sure Yoko is here, but I do not need any more of you in my house. You will just have to see her at school." With that she had shut the door in face._

The next day at the Academy, Shino confronted Yoko about what had happened. She had told him about how her parents did not approve of her becoming a shinobi and wanted no part of that life. As she spoke, she did not look a thing like the girl Shino knew.

She had spoken softly and would not look at him. She looked withdrawn and almost a shell of her normal self as she told him about her home life. She clearly explained that when she had chosen to come to the Academy she had known what she would be giving up.

Shino, however, could tell that it hadn't made it any easier on her.

Shino had told his father about how Yoko's parents treated her. Shibi merely told Shino that some people just couldn't accept difference in others, even if they appeared in their own children. From that day on, however, Shibi made sure that Yoko always stayed for dinner and kept her at the compound until the very last minute.

Shino sat down by Yoko and placed a hand on her shoulder. She turned to face him and gave him a small, yet obviously fake, smile. Shino shook his head and chuckled,

"You should know by now that I can tell when you are nervous. Do not worry. We will both pass."

Yoko gave a small nod of her head, but Shino knew that her stomach was still in knots. He knew she would not be able to calm down until she had passed the exam. He wanted to offer her more words of encouragement, however, but at that moment Mizuki-sensei poked his head into the classroom.

"The exam will begin. First up, Aburame Shino."

Yoko watched as Shino departed the room, only moments after he had arrived. It had begun. Now, once again, all Yoko could do was wait.

Yoko _hated_ waiting.

It seemed like days had passed as she watched, one by one, her classmates get called out of the room to go take the exam. Nobody had returned either. Yoko assumed that the students were sent out to the eagerly awaiting parents who had gathered outside of the academy, waiting to either congratulate or console their child.

She was positive Shino and his parents were already off celebrating. She was as sure of this as she was the fact that there would be no one waiting for her when she exited the academy. Whether she passed or failed she would face that alone.

Mizuki-sensei once again poked his head in the door and spoke,

"Kimura Yoko, you are next."

Yoko took a deep breath and steeled her nerves. She walked down to the bottom of the classroom and followed Mizuki sensei out the door. As they both walked, Yoko kept her eyes forward. She knew if she looked at Mizuki-sensei her nerves would come back tenfold. He did not speak either until they approached another classroom.

Stopping out in front of the door, he turned to face her,

"Inside Yoko you will be administered the exam. If you pass you will be given a leaf headband and will exit the building. If you fail you will merely be asked to leave. Good luck."

Yoko pushed open the door and went to take a step in. She immediately felt the all too familiar sensation of falling and steadied herself before she fell to the ground completely.

Why did she have to go and trip now of all times?

Trying to shake it off, she went and stood in front of the desk that seated Iruka-sensei and now Mizuki-sensei. She bowed respectfully to each of them and awaited further instruction. Iruka-sensei flipped through a clipboard he had in his hand,

"Yoko based on these scores you are the second highest ranked student in your class, just below Uchiha Sasuke. I'm very proud of the improvement you shown. Now all I need you to do is produce three clones."

That's it?

Yoko could not believe that this was the final test she would have to pass before she graduated. This was her best jutsu. A small grin appearing on her face, Yoko performed the hand signs and produced three clones.

Iruka-sensei stood up and circled each of the clones inspecting them as Yoko watched impatiently. Finally, he sat down and wrote something on his clipboard. He looked up at her and gave her a big smile,

"Kimura Yoko you have officially passed. Hre is your leaf headband. Orientation will be here in at the academy in three days. Please be here promptly at noon. Congratulations!"

Yoko took the leaf headband out of his hand and tied it around her forehead. She forced herself to remain calm as she bowed and gave her thanks to her sensei. She walked out of the room and stared at the wall for a moment before pinching herself. She instantly knew this wasn't a dream and leapt up into the air, arms waving in celebration.

She had passed.

She quickly made her way out of the academy, fully prepared to go treat herself to a celebratory dinner when she stopped in her tracks. Standing outside of the academy with the rest of the families, was Shino and his parents.

As soon as she stepped towards them, Shino ran over in a burst of energy quite unexpected from him, and wrapped her in a hug.

"See I told you that you pass!" Yoko laughed and shook her head,

"What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be out celebrating with your family?" A voice from next to her spoke before Shino could answer,

"Yoko, we have been eagerly waiting out here for you results. Why? Because you are as much a part of this family as Shino is." It was Shibi who spoke and Shino's mother, Miko, nodded her head in agreement a large smile on her face.

Yoko stared at them in shock for a moment before hugging both of them. She knew that she was always welcome at the compound. She knew that Shibi and Miko would never turn her away and would always be there to help her. But this was the first time they had said it out loud.

She was family.

Yoko had just gained the two most important things in her life all in one day and she could honestly say that she had never been happier.

**A/N: I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter. Sorry for the delay, but these next few weeks will be hectic because I am getting ready to move back up to Uni. Thank you again to all my readers and reviewers! And also a giant thanks to my beta. Until next time…**


	8. Chapter 8

Three days.

It had been three days since Yoko had received her leaf headband – three days since her dream had finally been fulfilled. Those three days past by in a blur. Between the celebration that had been held at the Aburame compound for her and Shino and the preparation for orientation, Yoko was on cloud nine.

_Nothing_ was going to ruin her good mood.

Not even her parents, who had taken their hostility to an entirely new level, could break this new euphoric feeling. Yoko finally had the two things she had always hoped for: a real family and to become a shinobi. Everything Yoko had lost over the years and even more recently, seem to pale in comparison to having gained these two things.

Life was good.

Resting her hands behind her head, Yoko smiled up at the ceiling in her bedroom at the Aburame compound. _Her bedroom_. She knew that eventually the euphoric feeling she had would die away and she would have to face everything that had happened over the past few days head on, but for now she was content with the feeling that everything was working out the way it should be.

_It had been three days ago. The members of the Aburame clan had hosted a giant celebration for Yoko and Shino after they came back from the academy. Yoko had never seen so many decorations or so much food in her entire life. _

_And it was for her._

_This left her with a warm feeling in the pit of her stomach that lasted even as she and Shino walked towards her house. The celebration had lasted well into the night and Shino had insisted on walking Yoko home. Yoko had rolled her eyes at this (she was a shinobi after all), but didn't argue as the two of them left the compound side by side._

_The walk home was filled with laughter and excitement from both of them. Even stoic Shino had seemed to have let go and was relishing in this new excitement that he felt. As they approached Yoko's house, their laughter died down and Yoko's mouth dropped open._

_Sitting out in front of her house was all of her stuff. Everything she ever owned was just piled outside the front door for her to find. This caused her to freeze for a minute, before she saw a scroll set on top of the pile. Slowly, as if in a trance, she made her way over to the pile and grabbed the scroll._

Dear Yoko,

We heard talk around the village today that you have become a shinobi. We would congratulate you, but that would only be false words. Your father and I had hoped that this was all just a phase and that eventually you would come to your senses. This is obviously not the case and therefore we can no longer have you living in our house. Here are all of your belongings, please do not try to contact us ever again.

Your mother

_Yoko reread the message over and over again trying to figure out all of the different feelings that had suddenly threatened to overwhelm her senses. Abandonment. Relief. Sadness. Joy. Anger. All of these feelings were swirling around in her head so fast that she didn't even notice Shino grab her hand and begin to lead her back to the compound._

That night Shino had let her sleep in the guest room, with the promise that they would speak to Shibi in the morning. When morning came, Yoko realized that she wasn't as upset as she thought she should be. Her parents and she were never close, so she didn't really feel like she had lost very much. Besides, somewhere in her mind, the elation from everything that had happened the day before was still there causing her to still feel like everything was alright.

She had gone downstairs for breakfast that morning, to find Shibi, Miko and Shino already eating. Shibi and Miko acted like it was completely normal for Yoko to be coming downstairs for breakfast, still in the same clothes that had been in the night before.

Then again, _anything_ was normal when it came to Yoko.

It was after breakfast that Shibi asked to speak with Yoko and Shino. It was after breakfast that Yoko found out what it really meant to have a family.

Shino sat in his room trying to do his morning meditations. He was finding this nearly impossible, however, as his mind kept straying to the purple haired girl who was only two bedrooms down from him. His mind kept straying to everything that had happened in the past few days. He still could not wrap his head around what Yoko's parents did.

What kind of people abandon their own child?

She had asked his father that very question the morning after he had brought Yoko back to the Aburame compound. Shibi said that he could not fully answer Shino's question because he could not understand it, at least not completely.

He once again explained that some people have trouble accepting differences in others. Parents who have trouble accepting these differences in their children, are given an extremely difficult task. They must either change their entire way of thinking or they must continue to watch as their child grows up a failure in their eyes.

Sometimes this becomes too much for them he had said. Shino still could not understand it. Family was supposed to be the one thing in life that someone could lean on. Family was supposed to be there even when the rest of the world turned their back on them. Family was supposed to be _forever_. This was how he had always been raised.

_Nothing _in life was more important than family.

He had also expressed this confusion to his father that same morning. Shibi agreed that there was _nothing_ more important in life than one's family. He also explained, however, family does not necessarily mean blood relatives. There many different types of families from blood relatives to the friends that people are able to select on their own.

It was at this moment something in Shino's mind had clicked.

_As Shino sat there next to his father, listening to him explain about the idea that there are different types of families, a light-bulb went off in his head. They were Yoko's family now. His clan were the people that Yoko could lean on for support and right now she needed them._

_His father must have noticed the look on his face when this realization happened because he gestured for Shino to speak,_

"_Dad, Yoko doesn't have anywhere to live. We are the only family she has now and she needs our help. Family is forever right? Why don't we ask Yoko to stay here at the compound with us?"_

_His father did not respond right away and Shino knew why. This was practically unheard of, to invite an outsider to live at the compound with no betrothal or wedding on the horizon. But Shino didn't care. If everything his father had taught him about family was true, then there really was no other option in his mind._

_Finally his father spoke,_

"_That is a very good idea son. How about after breakfast we speak to Yoko and see what she thinks about all of this?"_

_Shino nodded and followed his father out to the dining room._

After breakfast that morning, his father had asked to speak to him and Yoko. It took nearly all of Shino's self-restraint to stop himself from just blurting the question out to Yoko, but he knew his father had already planned how to broach this topic.

His father began by once again congratulating Yoko on her success from the day before and expressing his regret at what her parents had done. He then went on to have nearly the same discussion he and Shino had early about the different types of families and what family meant to the Aburames. After letting that sink in, he told Yoko, once again, how she was a part of their family and if she wanted she was more than welcome to move into their home.

The look on Yoko's face was priceless. She squealed and ran over, wrapping his father in a giant hug. She immediately accepted the offer and Shino realized that things were going to be different from now on.

Yoko finally pulled herself from her bed and began her morning routines. She still couldn't wrap her mind around the fact that Shino's family had so easily accepted her into their home. She wasn't about to complain, however. For the first time that she could remember she could wake up in the morning and not have to worry about how she was going to get out of the house without running into her parents.

She was finally free to walk around and not have to watch every move she made for fear of upsetting her parents. Instead, she was now always greeted warmly by Shino and his parents who always seemed happy to have her around the house.

It had only been two days since Shibi had made his offer, but Yoko couldn't help but feel that she had finally found where she was supposed to be. She had finally found the one place where she belonged.

She had finally found her _home_.

Whistling a happy tune, Yoko finished getting dressed and tied her long hair up behind her head. After one last check that she had everything with her that she needed for the day she made her way downstairs to find the rest of the house already eating their breakfast.

The all paused for a moment and greeted her before returning back to their meals. Yoko quickly loaded up her plate with as much food as she could fit and promptly began to stuff her face. Breakfast, as always, was a silent affair as everyone was still waking up. After finishing his food, Shibi opened the newspaper that had been lying beside him and began to read through it.

About ten minutes later he glanced over the top of the paper and looked directly at Shino and Yoko,

"Are the two of you ready for today? Today is the day you will be split into your genin teams and assigned to your sensei. You realize there is a chance that the two of you will not end up on the same team." Yoko shook her head at this,

"Shibi, there is no _way_ that could happen. They would never separate Shino and me. Even if they did I'd make them change their mind!"

Shibi chuckled at this and shook his head.

"Well then good luck to both of you today."

Yoko and Shino quickly finished eating their breakfast and stood up from the table. After giving both Shibi and Miko quick hugs they headed out the front door. The walk to the academy was a silent one because even the ever talkative Yoko was too excited to speak. They arrived right on time and noticed that there was something going on in the front of the room between Naruto and Sasuke.

Both of the shared a glance before taking the two seats in the back of the room. At that moment Iruka-sensei came in and began explaining that they were going to be separated into teams and how their teams had been chosen.

Yoko tuned him out.

Why should she care about how the teams were selected? As long as she and Shino were on the same team than that's all that really mattered. With this thought firmly in her head, she continued to tune out Iruka-sensei as he began to read off the different members of each team. After what seemed like an eternity, Yoko's head snapped up.

"Team 8. Aburame Shino, Inuzuka Kiba and…" Yoko felt like time nearly stopped, "…Kimura Yoko."

Before she could even let out a shout of excitement she heard another voice ring out across the classroom.

"Why do I have to be on the same team as bug-freak and his little girlfriend? I don't want to catch any fleas!"

Kiba was standing upright at his desk, hand firmly clenched into fists at his sides. He face was red from anger and he looked ready to just walk out of the room. Yoko leaned back in her chair and rolled her eyes,

"Just shut up dog-breath. You really think we wanna be on the same team as you?"

That shut him up and allowed Yoko to return to the mini celebration that was going on in her head. She glanced over at Shino and gave him a large smile. He returned it full on and Yoko knew at that moment that nothing was going to get in their way.

**A/N I hope you guys aren't too mad for the large break in between updates, but as I said I am getting ready to go back to college so things are a bit hectic on my end. As always, thank you to my readers and my beta and I hope you all enjoy this chapter!**


	9. Chapter 9

Yoko could barely contain her excitement. Team selection was finally complete and they were going to get to meet their new Jounin sensei. Once again, however, they were forced to wait until the other seven teams before them were called.

Why could no one ever seem to understand that Yoko _hated_ waiting?

After what seemed like an eternity, a woman with blood red eyes entered the room. She took a moment to look around at the genin that were now left and then spoke,

"Team 8, please come with me."

Yoko nearly flew out of her seat and was standing down in front of Kurenai before anyone could even react. She stood there looking up at her and bouncing up and down on the balls of her feet. She was trying _really_ hard to act like a shinobi and remain calm, but there were just so many questions she had. Finally, she gave up on trying to act properly (that was no fun anyway) and let the stream of questions come flowing out of her mouth,

"What are we going to do today? Why are your eyes so red? Can I learn to make my eyes do that too? When is our first mission? I really hope it's not boring. Can we do something cool like save the village or something? Why is it…"

Her line of questioning was abruptly cut off though by a hand placing itself over her mouth. She looked to her left to see Shino standing there trying not to look amused. Her tongue darted out of her mouth, licking his hand which he quickly retracted and wiped on his jacket. He frowned slightly at her and she just stuck her tongue back out at him, but before she could respond Kurenai spoke up,

"Well that was very…interesting. My name is Kurenai and as for your questions, Yoko, I ask that you hold off on them until we reach our next destination."

Although she sounded stern, Yoko could see a bit of amusement show across her face. Without another word, Kurenai turned and began to lead them out of the classroom. Yoko literally had to bite her tongue to keep quiet as they walked through the village and out towards the training grounds. This piqued Yoko's interest even more.

Now she just _had _to know what they were going to do.

However, by the time she had opened her mouth to speak, Kurenai was motioning towards one of the trees on the edge of the forest that surrounded the training ground. The three of them quickly followed her direction and went to go sit under the tree.

When they all sat down, Yoko watched as Kiba purposely selected a spot well away from her and Shino. She rolled her eyes and turned back to Kurenai to ask,

"So what are we going to do? Some extra super cool ninja exercise?" Kurenai gave her an appraising stare before speaking,

"Well we are going to do a training exercise. However, this training exercise will also be a test. I will explain what you are going to do in a minute, but first I want to explain the importance of this test. When you graduate from the academy, it is more like a preliminary graduation. The leaf village only wants the best of the best serving it.

Therefore, after the graduation test weeds out some of the completely hopeless candidates, the Jounin are then expected to do the same. Each genin team will be administered some sort of test either today or tomorrow by their Jounin sensei. The students who pas this test get to keep their leaf head band. Those who fail will be sent back to the academy for further training."

"What?" Kiba was had yelled jumping to his feet, "You can't do that!"

Kurenai merely stared down at him,

"I assure you that I can. Now please sit down before I fail you right now." Kiba sat down, hands still clenched into fists and that is when it hit Yoko.

She felt the world stop spinning.

This _couldn't_ be possible.

She could not believe what she had just heard come out of Kurenai's mouth. There was absolutely no way that they could send her back to the academy after everything she had already been put through.

She was a leaf shinobi.

They had told her that after she had graduated. She was not just going to stand by and let them take it away from her. She would do anything to pass this test and to make sure that Shino passed as well.

She was quickly pulled out of her mental rage by Kurenai who was continuing on,

"Now about this test. Somewhere in the forest behind you there is a scroll hidden. You have the next two hours to locate this scroll. However, I will also being going through the forest trying to stop you. If I manage to catch you, you will fail the exam. If you do not return with the scroll in hand, you will also fail. Any questions?"

Shino spoke up,

"Kurenai, there are three of us and only one scroll. Does that mean…?" he trailed off,

"Yes, Shino, that is correct. At most one of you will pass the exam or at worst you will all fail. The rest of the teams have similar pass/fail ratios and therefore once we see who has managed to pass we will reorganize the teams accordingly. One final thing, the person who finds the scroll may choose to give it to another member of the team. Be warned, however, that this would mean an automatic fail for the person giving up the scroll."

Yoko felt her heart drop. She would now have to fight against Shino if she wanted to stay a genin.

This thought was quickly erased from her mind. Shino was the reason she had made it this far. If it wasn't for him and his family she would have nowhere to call home. She would have _nothing_ if it wasn't for Shino. There was no way that she could fight against Shino to pass this test.

She would not do it.

"Come on Akamaru, lets each take a section of the forest to start. Mark your trails so we know where we already search."

Hearing Kiba say this made Yoko come back to reality. She realized that Kurenai had already disappeared and Kiba and Akamaru were already running full force into the forest. Shino was standing next to her and was staring at her intently. He must have noticed the look on her face because when she opened her mouth to speak he cut her off abruptly,

"Yoko there is no way that I will let you throw this test for me. We've discussed this before. _They need me_. As much as it huts to think about you need to realize the position you are in right now. You need to pass this test if you want to stay a genin. I do not say this to hurt you feelings, but rather to get those stupid thoughts out of your head." He grabbed her shoulder and looked her straight in the eyes,

"If I manage to find the scroll I will give it to you."

Yoko let his words sink in. She still couldn't believe, that even after all these years that Shino would do something like this for her. It would not look good for him or his clan if he were sent back to the academy and yet he wasn't thinking about that at all. All he was worried about was making sure that her dream didn't slip between her fingers.

Yoko opened her mouth to argue because no matter what he said she couldn't let him do this. He gave her a look from behind his sunglasses and she let her mouth snap shut. They could argue about this later once one of them had the scroll. Once Shino realized she wasn't going to argue with him, he began speaking again,

"Alright so here is the plan. I will take the west half of the forest. You take the east. I will have my kikaichu spread themselves out throughout the forest to help us look, too. If one of my kikaichu finds the scroll in your half I will direct it to come to you and lead you to it."

Yoko nodded her head and sped off into the forest.

Shino watched as Yoko headed off into the forest. He knew that she was going to argue with him at some point, but right now they had to find this scroll. He would make her see reason later. He couldn't even entertain the thought of keeping the scroll for himself. He would get as many chances as he needed to become a shinobi. Yoko only had this one.

It didn't matter to him if it took him another ten years to become an official genin as long as Yoko didn't lose her head band. He shook his head and sped off into the forest. As he ran, his kikaichu flew from within his jacket and began to spread themselves out over the entire forest. He would let them look for the scroll, he had another target in mind.

It didn't take long for him to find his target. He had hit a small detour on the way there, having to avoid Kurenai who had passed over a bush he was hiding himself in, but he had managed to catch up with Kiba. Using the stealth training his father had given him, he snuck up behind Kiba who was searching the area of a nearby tree. With one swift moved he spun Kiba around and pinned his back against the tree, a kunai at his throat.

"Shino? What are you doing…?" Kiba stopped as Shino applied a little more pressure to the kunai,

"I know we have never liked each other, but you will listen to me. If you get the scroll you must give it to Yoko." Kiba scoffed,

"Why would I do that? Are you going to hurt me if I don't?" Shino just shook his head,

"No I will not hurt you and I know that I cannot make you do this. However, I would hope that you would put our past differences behind you and listen to reason. You and I are from very important clans in this village. If we fail this test they will continue to give us chances to become genin because they need our abilities.

Yoko is a civilian born child with no special talents other than her loyalty and sheer determination. What do you think will happen if she fails this test? She is trying to convince herself that she will just be sent back to the academy and given another shot. You and I both know that they will just abolish any chance she has of becoming a genin again. If you have any decency, please give her the scroll."

He didn't wait for a response. He knew he would have to let Kiba think on his words, so with that being said he pocketed his kunai and sped off into the trees.

He only hoped that Kiba would see reason and save Yoko's only chance at obtaining her dream if the opportunity presented itself. In the meantime, he needed to focus on finding that scroll before Kiba did, so that the situation could be avoided all together.

The two hours were nearly up, Yoko realized when she checked the sun's position. She hadn't heard any word from Shino, so she figured the scroll was still hidden somewhere. She had nearly been caught by Kurenai twice. Once when she tripped and almost fell out from behind the tree she was hiding behind and the second time when she nearly missed seeing Kurenai coming from overhead.

Even with these near misses, however, Yoko was not going to give up. She was going to get that scroll and force Shino to take it. All they had to do was make sure that Kiba didn't get ahold of it first. Right then, one of Shino's kikaichu landed on her arm. She let it walk up to her hand and then raised it to eye level,

"Did you find the scroll?" One twitch.

The insect took off and Yoko followed at full speed. This was what she had been waiting for. She saw a clearing up ahead of her and in the middle she saw a tree with a hole in the trunk. A hole just large enough for someone to place a scroll in. She mentally cheered in her head and continued to race forward towards the tree.

Suddenly, she saw movement out of the corner of her eye coming right at her. She quickly stopped and just nearly avoided crashing into what had been speeding towards her. It took her a moment to regain what little balance she possessed and when she did she realized just what she had almost collided into.

It was Shino.

Some part inside of her wanted to convince him right then and there to take the scroll, but she knew now was not the time to argue, so she turned, ready to go retrieve the scroll. Something happened at that moment that made her heart sink, however. Those few moments they had lost had allowed Kiba to make his way into the clearing. She watched as he reached into the tree and removed the scroll, a triumphant look on his face.

It was over.

She and Shino had failed.

**A/N Sorry this chapter took so long everybody. It has been crazy now that school has started up. Also I ran into a bit of writer's block with this chapter that I had to work through, so again sorry for the wait.**

**On a more upbeat note: Thank you to everyone who reviewed, followed, favorite and read my story so far. Also a BIG BIG BIG thank you to my beta for helping me smooth out the rough edges of this chapter. Until next time!**


	10. Chapter 10

This just could_ not_ be happening.

Everything she had worked for had just been snatched away from her grasp. Yoko knew that there was no way Kiba would give up that scroll and that upset her. It didn't matter that she had already planned on forcing Shino to take it if she had been the one to find it. Now both of them were going to have to give up their head bands.

It was _so_ unfair.

Why did Kiba have to be the one to find it?

Yoko stood at the edge of the clearing with her arms crossed, shooting a dark look at Kiba. If she stared at him long enough he might just disappear and she could go grab the scroll. She let out a frustrated sigh and suddenly felt a hand on her shoulder. She looked to her side to see Shino standing there looking out towards where Kiba stood. At that moment Kiba saw them and gave them a smirk.

Yoko nearly ran over and knocked it right off his face.

Before she could move, however, she felt Shino's grip tighten slightly. He had always been able to read her moods without any effort at all. Once she made no move to go running headfirst at Kiba, he relaxed his grip again and turned to speak to her,

"Yoko you must keep calm. We _will_ figure this out, but if you let your temper get the best of you we will get nowhere." Yoko nodded, although inside her head she was still fuming.

Shino removed his hand from her shoulder and the two of them began to make their way into the clearing and over to Kiba. Akamaru was at Kiba's feet barking happily and Kiba still had a smug look on his face as the approached. Yoko just wanted to smack that look off his face. When they finally stopped in front of him he spoke to Yoko,

"Well this obviously shows who the better shinobi is. I'm not surprised though between you and bug-freak it wasn't really much of a competition."

Yoko's hands balled themselves into fists. If she was going to be sent back to the academy then she should at least get to hit him once. Before anything could be said, however, Kurenai entered the clearing carrying three food containers,

"Congratulations Kiba. You have found the scroll. Now before we continue any further I have some dinner for you guys. I want you to eat and carefully consider what you are going to do with the scroll. I will be back in half an hour to hear your decision."

She set the containers down and left the clearing. The three of them just stood there for a moment, staring at each other, before Yoko decided to reach down and grab one of the containers. Just because she was miserable didn't mean she had to be miserable _and_ hungry.

Following her lead, the other two grabbed a container and they all sat down on the ground. A strained silence continued while they ate. Finally, Kiba looked up from his food and spoke up,

"Well you probably want to know what I am going to do with the scroll…" Yoko rolled her eyes and cut him off,

"Look we all know you are going to keep it, so please don't rub it in our faces." Kiba gave her a dark look,

"Actually, if you could close your mouth and listen for a moment, I was going to tell you guys that I have decided to give the scroll to Yoko."

Yoko froze. Although she was sure she had heard the words come out of Kiba's mouth, her brain would simply not allow her to process them. They didn't make sense no matter what way she tried to look at them. The only thing she could do was ask,

"What?" It was Kiba's turn to roll his eyes,

"Alright I am going to say this slowly. I. Am. Giving. You. The. Scroll." Yoko snapped out of her stupor and shook her head fervently,

"If you are going to give it to someone give it to Shino. He deserves it more." Kiba glanced at Shino and let out an exasperated sigh,

"I want you to have it!"

"Why do you want me to have it so bad dog breath?" He let out a frustrated growl and Yoko knew his short temper was on its last legs,

"Because Shino explained to me what would happen if you _didn't_ get the scroll."

Yoko saw red.

Shino sat there and watched the exchange happening between Kiba and Yoko. He figured that for now he should stay out of it because Yoko would not be happy if she found out that Shino had been the one to convince Kiba to give her the scroll. She would be furious if she found out that he had to explain her situation to Kiba before he could convince him.

"Because Shino explained to me what would happen if you _didn't_ get the scroll."

Shino heard those words tumble out of Kiba's mouth and knew that he was in trouble. Cautiously, he glanced over at Yoko and gulped. Her eyes were narrowed into little slits and her hands were balled into trembling fists. She turned to face him,

"You didn't think I could do it on my own did you? You just had to go blab to Kiba because you didn't believe in me. You didn't think I could find the scroll." At that moment Kiba cut in,

"Well technically you didn't find the scroll, so…" She rounded on him,

"And you! I don't want your pity give the stupid scroll to Shino." Kiba's temper finally boiled over,

"I AM JUST TRYING TO BE NICE AND WHAT DOES IT GET ME? A STUPID GIRL YELLING AT ME! THIS THING ISN'T WORTH IT ANYMORE! I DON'T WANT IT!" Shino decided he needed to speak up,

"Well I do not want it. I want Yoko to have it." Yoko fixed her attention on him yet again,

"No way. I am not taking it and if you don't want it then Kiba should keep it!"

Shino mentally smacked his hand to his forehead. Why did Yoko have to go and get mad now? She never thought rationally when she was this mad. She needed to take that scroll so she could continue on living out her dream. Shino began to contemplate a way to convince Yoko to take the scroll. He was quickly brought out of her thoughts, however, by rising voices next to him.

He realized that as he was trying to formulate a new plan, Kiba and Yoko had continued fighting. They were now standing face to face yelling at each other,

"JUST TAKE THE STUPID SCROLL!"

"NO DOG BREATH! AND IF YOU KEEP SAYING THAT I WILL BEAT YOU SO HARD YOU WILL FORGET WHAT WE ARE EVEN TALKING ABOUT!"

They continued on and on. They were fighting in circles. Shino figured that he should step in and try to break it up before Kurenai got there, but just as he made a move to step in, she reappeared on the edge of the clearing.

She made her way over to them and gave Shino an amused look. Apparently, neither Kiba nor Yoko noticed her presence, however, because when she yanked them both up by the collars of their shirts, they both fell into a stunned silence.

Once Kurenai seemingly decided that they were done arguing she let both of them go. They both fell to the ground and stood back up. They turned to face each other, probably to resume their argument, when Kurenai spoke up,

"You guys have passed."

Yoko nearly missed Kurenai's statement due to her current state of rage. The statement floated into her head and was on its way out when her mind suddenly grasped on to what she had just been told. Once it has registered in her mind she looked over at Shino, whose expression was clearly one of shock.

She then turned to look at Kurenai, half expecting the older woman to come out and say she was joking.

Kiba, being one of the least patient people ever (next to Yoko of course), quickly spoke up, asking the same thing that was going through Yoko's mind,

"What do you mean we have all passed?" Kurenai motioned for them to sit down,

"It means just that, you have all passed. The test you just participated in actually had two purposes. The first and most obvious was to see what level your tracking and stealth skills were at. The second part was to see if you three were able to put aside your differences and choose to help your teammates instead of merely thinking of yourself." Yoko could do nothing, but sit in stunned silence, so it was Shino who spoke up,

"So that is why you gave the person who found the scroll the option to give up the scroll. You wanted to see if they would just keep it for themselves or try to give it off to someone else." Kurenai nodded her head,

"Yes and although you all got there in a rather unorthodox way, in the end you all put the wants of your teammates over your own gain. I must admit, though, it was rather amusing to watch you two threaten to beat each up over it. However, it got the job done."

Yoko couldn't believe what she was hearing. After everything they just went through, _that_ was the purpose of the entire test? It still didn't make sense to her, so she asked,

"Why did you do that?" Kurenai raised an eyebrow at her,

"When this team was originally put together, Iruka told me about the dynamics between the three of you. I knew that you and Shino were practically family, so I did not have to worry about how well the two of you would work together. I also knew that there was no love lost between the two of you and Kiba.

I needed to make sure that when it counted that the three of you would be able to work together. The three of you don't ever have to become best friends or even like each other, but you need to be able to work together.

The shinobi world is a cruel and unpleasant one and you need to be able to rely on your teammates no matter what personal issues you may have with them."

Yoko let these words sink in.

She guessed it made sense in a way. Even if she didn't like Kiba, she didn't want to go on a mission and have to worry about him having her back or vice versa.

She decided that she would probably never really get along with Kiba, but now that she was a shinobi there were more important things going on than a schoolyard rivalry. She made a decision.

She turned and stretched out her hand to Kiba. He eyed her suspiciously for a moment before shaking her hand and nodding. As soon as she dropped her hand, she watched as Shino held up his. Although Kiba only shook it for a brief moment before dropping it, the message was clear. They would probably never be friends, but they would work together like a team should.

Kurenai stayed silent as this was going on and when it was finished she smiled and spoke once more,

"Well I am glad to see that you all are willing to act like true shinobi and put aside your differences for the good of the village. We will meet here again tomorrow where I will have our first mission. Until then, go home and get a good night's rest. You are dismissed."

With that Kurenai left the three of them in the clearing. They all stood up and made their way out of the training ground. Once they exited the training ground Kiba went one way and Yoko and Shino went another. Once Yoko was sure that Kiba was out of sight, she reached up and smacked Shino on the back of the head,

"Don't you ever do something like that again or I will be forced to unleash my epic shinobi powers on you!"

Shino merely chuckled and pulled her into a quick hug. They continued back to the compound, both of them wondering what the future brought for them now.

**A/N As always I must say thank you to my awesome beta DiAnna44. Without her I would probably not be nearly as far along in with this story as I am. Also thank you to everyone who read, followed, favorited and reviewed! I hope you all enjoy this chapter.**


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